boehner. cutit loose so they can go christmas shopping, senator mcconnell. the it's what the people voted. that's why they voted for me. that's the president talking. joined by chuck todd. thanks for joining us tonight. this was a hot pressure cooker press conference and you were in the middle. let's talk about the president's tactic. it looks like he's got one. here he is sticking out his message of defending the middle class today, sticking to it. he practically dared the republicans to hold tax cuts for the middle class hostage. he went back to that word hostage. let's take a look. >> the other option is to pass a law right now that would prevent any tax hike whatsoever on the first $250,000 of everybody's income. i hope republicans in the house come on board, too. we should not hold the middle class hostage while we debate tax cuts for the wealthy. the most important step we can take right now, i think the foundation for a deal that helps the economy, creates jobs, gives consumersty, which means gives consumers confidence they'll have consumers during the holiday season if we right aw

of that party up there. >>> next,johnboehnerwasre-elected yesterday for a second term as speaker of the house but georgia congressman louis go mert, a charter member of the birther crowd had a different candidate in mind. who do you think he nominated? newt gingrich for speaker right now. you don't technically actually have to be a house member to be speaker of the house, but it's been the rule historically. by the way, boehner's word to go mert after the word, louie, i love you, too. after the election, we heard certain ceos were threatening to fire employees if president obama wob the election. some are going through with it. bobt murray, ceo of the coal company laid off 156 employees the day after the election. john schneider ceo the papa john's pizza says he will be cutting employee hours to avoid costs associated with obama care. finally, john met, ceo of several denny's franchises says he will add a 5% surcharge to customers' bills to offset the cost of obama care. you don't want to pay extra, he said tip the server less to offset the cost. what a sweetheart. >>> up next, n